StemCyte Appoints Robert Dickey IV as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

ARCADIA, Calif., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- StemCyte, Inc., a leading stem
cell transplantation and therapeutics company, announced today the
appointment of Robert Dickey IV as Senior Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer. Mr. Dickey brings to StemCyte a total of more than 25
years of experience in entrepreneurial management and in investment
banking. During his career, Mr. Dickey has been actively involved in
fundraising in both the private and public markets, IPO's, and mergers and
acquisitions. In addition, he has significant experience in the building
and management of high growth companies. He will be based with StemCyte's
CEO, CSO and head of business development, among others, at the Company's
planned new headquarters on the east coast.
Mr. Dickey joins StemCyte from Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where as CFO
he raised over $40 million in debt and equity financing and from partnering
revenues. Previously, Mr. Dickey was President, CEO and CFO of Protarga,
Inc., where he raised more than $55 million, filed a registration statement
to take Protarga public and then sold the company to Daiichi Sankyo, Co.,
Ltd. During this time he played a key structuring and negotiating role in a
number of pharmaceutical and academic collaborations and licensing
agreements. He began his career on Wall Street with 13 years' experience at
Lehman Brothers in general corporate finance and in the M&A department and
then four years as a Managing Director at Legg Mason Wood Walker. Mr.
Dickey holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
and a B.A. from Princeton University.
"Rob Dickey's joining StemCyte reflects the organization's anticipated
growth into a larger and more complex company and the consequent need to
expand our team of senior professional managers", said StemCyte's CEO Ken
Giacin. "With Rob's finance, drug development and Wall Street experience,
he will play an integral role in overseeing our financial and corporate
operations as we continue to expand the number of our stem cell banking
facilities and significantly increase our investment in the development of
umbilical cord blood ("UCB") stem cell therapeutics. Henry Chase, the
current CFO, has been named Vice President of Finance.
About StemCyte
StemCyte, Inc. operates as both an international umbilical stem cell
storage bank and a therapeutics company. Stem cells are used to replace or
initiate the production of other cells that are damaged or missing due to
disease. StemCyte collects, processes and banks umbilical cord blood
("UCB") stem cells to be used as therapeutic treatments. The Company
currently operates UCB storage banks in California and Taiwan and is
expanding its locations into other regions around the globe. In addition,
the Company is pursuing collaborations with a number of leading stem cell
researchers to improve and expand the treatment opportunities using stem
cells.
UCB stem cells are a non-controversial and readily available source of
stem cells, harvested from umbilical cords that would otherwise be
discarded. To date, UCB stem cells have been used in approximately 8,000
transplants worldwide and have successfully treated certain cancers (e.g.,
leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma), blood disorders (e.g., thalassemia, sickle
cell anemia and Fanconi anemia) and immune deficiency diseases. StemCyte
and its scientific founder have developed proprietary processes to ensure
that the least number of stem cells are lost post-collection and post-thaw.
Studies have shown that successful patient engraftment and survival outcome
are directly correlated to the number of stem cells provided. StemCyte's
stem cells are currently being used to treat three to four patients per
week and the Company recently released its 500th cord blood stem cell
shipment for transplant. With an inventory of over 25,000 units, the
Company's stem cell banks represent one of the largest and most ethnically
diverse sources of unrelated (allogeneic) UCB stem cells.
StemCyte's therapeutic activities involve expanding the use of UCB stem
cells in indications where stem cells are already an FDA-approved therapy,
validating the engraftment and survival benefits of its proprietary stem
cell processing technology and participating in clinical trials for new
transplant indications. New indications include thalassemia, a devastating
red blood cell deficiency diagnosed in over 150,000 babies each year with
severe forms of the disease, and non-blood-based disorders, including
neurodegenerative diseases.
StemCyte has received accreditation from the American Association of
Blood Banks (AABB), the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), the College
of American Pathologists (CAP), and Foundation for the Accreditation of
Cellular Therapy (FACT) for allogeneic donations and has the only cord
blood bank in the world accredited by FACT for autologous donations.
StemCyte is one of only six banks to have been selected to participate in
the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program under the initial $79
million authorized by Congress in the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research
Act of 2005.
StemCyte is privately-held. Visit http://www.stemcyte.com for more
information.
David Carmel
917-414-4121